The Election Commission on Sunday made public fresh information on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later requested to place it in public area.
These details are believed to be pertaining to the interval earlier than April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the ballot panel final week. Political events had filed information on Electoral Bonds in sealed cowl as directed by the Supreme Court’s interim order dated April 12, 2019, the ballot panel stated in a press release.
“Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court’s order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website,” EC stated.
SC’s path to SBI on electoral bonds
Earlier, the apex courtroom had directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to reveal the details of the bonds to the EC by the shut of enterprise hours on March 12. In its fresh software, the ballot panel has stated the apex courtroom had noticed in its March 11 order that “copies of the statements which were filed by the ECI before this court would be maintained in the office of the ECI”.
“It is most respectfully submitted herein that in compliance of the orders passed by this court and in order to maintain the confidentiality of the aforesaid information /data, the Election Commission of India forwarded the documents received by it to this court in sealed covers/boxes, without retaining any copies of the same,” the appliance stated. “Thus, no copies of the documents/statements filed by the Election Commission of India before this court in the instant case were ever retained by it,” it stated.
Election Commission’s attraction to SC
In its plea, the Election Commission urged the highest courtroom to rectify or modify a portion of its March 11 order, requesting the return of paperwork, information, or info submitted to the courtroom in sealed covers. The goal is to facilitate compliance with the courtroom’s directives.
The software highlighted that in accordance with earlier orders from the apex courtroom dated April 12, 2019, and November 2, 2023, the EC had offered the requested info and information, each in sealed covers (comprising 106 sealed envelopes) and sealed containers, containing 309 and 214 sealed envelopes respectively.
On April 12, 2019, the Supreme Court had issued an interim order instructing political events to submit details of donations obtained and anticipated to be obtained to the EC in sealed covers.
(With inputs from PTI)
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